Chapter 6
'Living Armor -1-' is the sixth chapter of the manga Delicious in Dungeon. Summary The group takes a shortcut down a long staircase towards the third floor. As they exit the staircase, Laios notices that the decoration on the crossguard of his sword is gone. When Chilchuck and Marcille ask about its significance, Laios tells them a story about his and Falin's early adventuring days with a gold-stripping group. While the group was looking for valuables, they encountered some Living Armor, one of which (despite being beheaded) managed to kill Laios with the sword that he now wields . As this was Laios' first death, he also found for a while that even looking at a suit of armor was traumatic, but afterwards started researching Living Armor, specifically into eating them. He asks Senshi about how he would cook Living Armor, but Marcille and Senshi dismiss his query as a suit of metal armor is obviously inedible. This disappoints Laios. The group then enters a room that happens to have Living Armors in it, lined up facing each other in two columns. To avoid any unnecessary fighting, they decide to just run all the way through. As they do so, one Living Armor moves to bar their way, with Senshi and Laios quickly dismembering and dispatching it. While the dismembered Living Armor reassembles itself, Marcille and Chilchuck run ahead to open the next room, but are blocked by another group of Living Armor. With no way to get around them safely, the group retreats back to the entrance. Laios notes that their behavior is oddly aggressive compared to normal, and wonders if the party angered them. Marcille rejects this idea as Living Armor only follow orders, but Chilchuck briefly questions it since whoever controls them has never been seen. Laios continues to muse on their behavior, as they normally only attack if someone is too close to them. He concludes that the Living Armor are protecting something and Marcille predicts this thing is the one controlling them. In order to defeat said thing and stop all of the Living Armor in one go, the party make a plan to get past them: three of them as decoys and one to enter the room they were protecting. Laios is chosen - while he thinks Chilchuck should go as most stealthiest of their party, Chilchuck reminds him that they don't have eyes or ears, rendering stealth useless. This reminds Laios of the previous Living Armor that reassembled itself to have the head facing forward, but before he can think too much of it, the party put their plan in action. While the rest of the party draw the Living Armors' attention, Laios sneaks behind and enters the room. He is greeted by a fancier Living Armor, which looks stronger than the other ones. As he tries to figure out what it is protecting, it attacks him and manages to break his sword. To defend himself, he throws a brick at it, but it oddly moves its shield out of the way. As Laios dodges another attack, he notices something stuck to the back of the shield, which he figures out is an egg case. Thinking back to all the things he noticed about their behavior, he concludes that the previously thought of as inorganic Living Armor is really a living creature, and is therefore able to be beaten (...and eaten). Characters in Order of Appearance * Marcille * Senshi * Laios Thorden * Chilchuck Trivia * This and the next chapter form the first two part story in the series.